Turkey's ailing prime minister Bulent Ecevit is coming...

Turkey's ailing prime minister Bulent Ecevit is coming under increasing pressure to step down as a revolt against him grows.
Ecevit, who has seen some of his closest aides quit in recent days, acknowledged for the first time that early polls may be possible amid splits in his three-party government. About 30 members of Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP), including five ministers, have resigned, upsetting the balance of power in the three-party coalition and raising the prospect of early elections.
The 77-year-old has reshuffled his cabinet to replace three of the six ministers who quit over concerns over his ability to remain in office. In recent weeks, 77-year-old Ecevit has been either receiving treatment in hospital a for series of ailments or recovering at home.
Mesut Yilmaz, deputy prime minister and leader of the centre-right Motherland Party, has also called for early elections. Yilmaz said a November election would leave no time for the government to fulfil reforms to help the country's bid for EU membership.
"We should form a new government in order to realise EU reforms before December," Yilmaz said. "I think we owe this to next generations, if we can't make it until December, it will cost the happiness and welfare of at least one generation."
The nationalists have strongly opposed Ecevit's efforts to pass EU-demanded legislation that would abolish the death penalty and allow minority Kurds to teach and broadcast in Kurdish.